Windsor Fair opens Sunday with food, fun and friendly competition

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Bill Shores of Vassalboro drives a team of steers Sunday after collecting a ribbon on the first day of the Windsor Fair. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

WINDSOR — Sometimes, the hardest part of competition is having the patience to wait your turn.

Bill Shores spent his Sunday morning on the opening day of the Windsor Fair at the Vanner Pulling Grandstand, trying to keep his young charges from getting too bored or into trouble with a quiet word or two, a pat or a tap with a goad stick.

A pair of Chianina steers that Shores named Cracker and Jack stood yoked together near the entrance of the pulling ring, shifting from foot to foot or edging away from a loud golf cart putt-putting by behind them.

“I thought it would be a surprise what they’d turn out to be, just like the prize in a Crackerjack box,” Shores said.

Shores competes for fun, but for him, there is a challenge to train animals to work in a specific way.

“There’s a lot more to it than what it looks like,” said Shores, who owns Riverwind Farm in Vassalboro. “Some people say it’s just driving a dumb cow around, but there’s more to it. You have to have a lot trust and respect.”

The pair, now about a year old, weighed in Sunday morning at 1,480 pounds together. The Italian breed of large, white cattle are noted for their strength, and are generally used in pulling events rather than the steer scooting event for which Shores had signed up.

Steer scooting, which springs from the practice of using steers or oxen to haul logs out of the woods, requires more precision than strength. The handler must guide his or her team hauling a wooden sled around the arena in a figure-eight pattern navigating between pairs of blocks, clearing them without hitting them or knocking them over. The teams are scored on the cleanness of the run and time.

“It’s insane how much more strong and powerful they are,” Shores said.